On January 14, Me Alice Nkom is expected at the central judicial research service of the gendarmerie in Douala for “need of investigation”, as mentioned in the summons she received by bailiff on January 2, 2025.
This summons follows a complaint filed at the end of last year by the Observatory of Societal Development (ODS), a civil society organization. Lilian Koulou Engoulou, the general coordinator of the ODS, accuses the Cameroonian lawyer of attempted attack on state security, financing terrorism and financing armed gangs. ODS claims that in July 2019, Me Alice Nkom raised colossal funds to oppose the regime of President Paul Biya at the third forum of the Cameroon Patriotic Diaspora (CPD), which was held in Munich, Germany. The Cameroonian press had reported that in addition to the lawyer, political figures such as Edith Kah Walla, leader of the opposition Cameroon People Party (CPP), had also taken part in this CPD forum, which called for the departure of the Paul Biya regime.
ODS indicates that the lawyer plans to call on Cameroonians to take to the streets to oust the current government. In addition to this accusation of attempting to undermine state security, ODS believes that Me Alice Nkom is among the people financing separatist groups in the North-West and South-West (Noso) regions. The latter took up arms to fight the central government in Yaoundé in order to create an independent state in Noso. On her Facebook account, the lawyer responded to the complaint of an association about which “I know nothing: its existence, its leaders, the date of its creation, or even its receipt”. And she continued: “if the speed of the response to this complaint could be the same for all our public services… Health, water, electricity, roads, jobs… Children especially, don’t forget to register on the electoral lists”.
This new case is part of the ongoing tensions between Me Alice Nkom, a renowned lawyer, and the Ministry of Territorial Administration (Minat). At the heart of the dispute is the decision taken by the lawyer to break the seals applied to the premises of the Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (Redhac). These seals were placed following a temporary suspension of Redhac’s activities ordered by Paul Atanga Nji, Minister of Territorial Administration. In response to this act, Me Alice Nkom was summoned twice by the SDO of the Wouri division (Douala) last December, but she declined these summonses. The lawyer, who also holds the position of chairlady of the Redhac board of directors, requested a report to respond to this summons on January 10.
This administrative action aims to accuse her of having broken the seals affixed to the Redhac headquarters, an act that she seems to fully assume in a context of defending human rights.